Worth noting

• Sveum said that the reason he thinks baseball games are going longer these days is because pitchers nibble more, resulting in more walks than in the past.

"The difference in the games is one, pitchers nibble so much now," Sveum said. "The pitch counts are so much higher than they used to be, and catchers [are] setting up off the plate sometimes. ... In the days the games were quicker, catchers set up on thirds of the plate, so there were going to be more strikes thrown. There's just so many more walks now than there ever was back when you used to play [two-hour-and-thirty-minute] games constantly."

• Junior Lake's 24 hits since July 19 are the second most in the Majors, behind only Atlanta's Chris Johnson, who has 26 since then.

• The Cubs have had at least one extra-base hit in each of the last 26 games, dating back to July 5. The team's 352 extra-base knocks are the most for any National League team, and the third most in the Majors.